Midlanders start photo sharing app at SXSW

Joseph Basco

Published 2:04 pm, Sunday, March 24, 2013

A three-person tech startup from Midland, including a current members of the City Council, hoped to gain new members for its real-time photo sharing app during this year's South by Southwest Interactive festival.

The app, FotoVybes, lets users upload photos to the app's website, fotovybes.com, to document events such as SXSW in real time, said John Love III, CFO of FotoVybes. Love also is the District 2 City Council represenative.

"Events can be covered by the attendees from their point of view," Love said. "Hundreds and thousands can document the event from a unique perspective."

SXSW was the first festival for the group to try out their social media app, said Jose "Bo" Zertuche, a partner with FotoVybes. The group used QR codes, barcode-like symbols that smartphones can scan, as a high-tech way to provide instructions for new users.

On the FotoVybes website, users uploaded amateur and professional looking photos from SXSW. One photo featured a person dressed up as Boba Fett from Star Wars; another was a shot of Sixth Street, the legendary downtown Austin road where people walk freely from bar to bar during the 10-day festival because the road becomes closed to vehicular traffic.

Love said the concept for FotoVybes began in 2008. Love, Zertuche and Kelly Cockerell, the third partner, were brainstorming for technological ideas, but the technology, such as smartphones and smart TVs, were not popular back then, Love said.

Now, as technology caught up, Love said everyone has a screen in their pocket, which allows people to share anywhere at anytime.

"FotoVybes allows attendees to submit photos as seen by the audience," Zertuche said. "We provide an app that eliminates the needs for monitors on a wall to share photos. TV screens are now secondary to smartphones."

Zertuche said FotoVybes is targeted toward tech-savvy young adults and can be used for events both public and private.

But going forward, in the era of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Vine, Zertuche said a challenge they're going to face is recruiting new users to the capacity that the app allows. Love said the app is meant to be used beyond the photo takers; it's also for the viewers, whether they're in Midland or England.

"Our mission is to provide the most accurate account of an event," Love said.